Long day getting to the match

Wrestlers' regimens will begin before dawn and will end well after dusk

By Ben Meyers

Published 10:50 pm, Tuesday, February 7, 2012

When the homeroom bell rings at Shenendehowa's High School East at 7:40 a.m., Tony Fusco already has been awake for more than an hour.

El Shaddai Gilmore has him beat. The Columbia heavyweight wrestler is in homeroom 20 minutes earlier and has been awake for two hours.

Both wrestlers walked us through the final day of the regular season last Wednesday, a day that started before dawn and ended well after dusk.

5:30 a.m.: Gilmore typically skips breakfast. He takes the bus to school: He doesn't turn 16 until July when he will get to use his aunt's Ford Taurus.

6:30 a.m.: Fusco has a raspberry danish for breakfast on his way to school in an old Ford Ranger.

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7 a.m.: Gilmore is one of the first in the door at Columbia. He has 20 minutes to finish homework. He also has a study hall at the front end of the day where he admittedly "leaves some work from the night before."

10:15 a.m.: Despite the hour, it's lunchtime at Shenedehowa. Fusco has a cheeseburger and curly fries from the lunch line before playing some "Super Smash Bros." Fusco says "there is no way to make it through the day without it."

10:54 a.m.: Gilmore has peanut butter and jelly for lunch. It has to be strawberry jelly, though, no grape. "If it isn't strawberry, what is the point?"

11 a.m.: Fusco heads to construction class to help build a house from scratch. "From start to finish you get to see everything and be part of everything," Fusco said. "I guess it really is a lot like being part of a team going through a season."

1:27 p.m.: Gilmore goes to art class. It is his final of eight classes. "I am a creative kind of guy," Gilmore said. "I get to draw or paint and relax. A lot of people take that class to kind of just have a free one, but for me it is like therapy for my brain."

2 p.m.: Fusco has 21st century literature in ninth period. The title might not appeal to many, but Fusco "likes reading. It pushes me."

4 p.m.: With 27 JV matches scheduled for the undercard, Gilmore and the rest of the Blue Devils board the bus.

4:52 p.m.: Columbia and Gilmore arrive at Shenendehowa. "There is something different about showing up here than other schools," Gilmore said. "I don't know if it is the campus or the parking lot or the football field, but there is just something in the air. Everyone is their rival. Maybe that is it. You can feel it."

5:17 p.m.: The first wrestlers emerge from the locker room after hitting the scale. Fusco was 195.3 pounds in the morning weigh-in and now is 197.3 in the afternoon weigh-in. Gilmore was 282.2 in the morning and now is 283.1.

5:38 p.m.: Fusco is munching on a bag of Cheetos. A friend on the team tells him he has something on his white button-down shirt, but Fusco — with orange fingertips — doesn't fall for the ruse.

6:12 p.m.: JV matches start.

6:33 p.m.: Fusco, along with 220-pounder Will Mars and 285-pounder Cole Lampman, come out to the mats with warm-up jackets and ear buds in. The mix of tunes changes every time for Fusco.

6:48 p.m.: Gilmore, in his own warm-up gear, is sitting next to Columbia wrestling coach Joe McCabe on the bench. Every so often they lean in and share a few words and point at a match going on. They chuckle. Gilmore talks with his hands a lot.

7:12 p.m.: With the JV matches going deeper into the night than originally planned, Fusco and Gilmore start bouncing around. "You have to get the blood flowing," Fusco said. "It kind of lets me get into the right mind-set too. It is a way to get everything in sync. People talk about 'the zone.' That is when I start getting into it."

7:27 p.m.: The final JV match comes to an end almost 12 hours after Gilmore went to homeroom.

7:39 p.m.: Gilmore and the Blue Devils run out on to the mat for their warm-ups.

7:44 p.m.: Gilmore takes off his navy and white jacket to reveal his pink warm-up shirt. No one is messing with the guy in the pink shirt.

8:01 p.m.: Gilmore and Lampman are introduced for the most anticipated match of the evening. The biggest crowd of the season unleashes its biggest roar for its biggest wrestlers.

8:09 p.m.: The varsity match begins with the 152-pound bout. This is significant because instead of a 12-match run up to his weight, Fusco has only four matches to get ready. "I like it more with fewer matches before mine," Fusco said. "There is less time to think. Let me say that better: There is less time to overthink. Tonight was different because I didn't know if I was going to wrestle or what was going to happen."

8:30 p.m.: Fusco is announced as the Shen wrestler for the 220-pound match. He will be wrestling at a higher weight class, even though that isn't unusual. The crowd is fired up. "I have wrestled against bigger guys before, so that wasn't a big deal, but with the crowd and the energy in the place I wanted to do well for everyone there," Fusco said. "The guy could have weighed 320 and I would have wanted to be out there."

8:38 p.m.: Fusco finishes the match with a pin that is met by a rumbling of feet in the bleachers and the roar of the packed house. Gilmore is shaking out his arms and getting pats on the back as he prepares for the 285 bout.

8:41 p.m.: Gilmore, who has about a 45-pound weight edge, and Lampman shake hands.

8:46 p.m.: Gilmore rolls his ankle as Lampman goes for a takedown in the third round. There are a few boos as he stays on the mat grimacing in pain. Most of the fans are educated enough to A) see the injury and B) want to see the two titans at full strength.

8:47 p.m.: Gilmore is in some pain but gets a few hands up and gets some big claps in and takes a deep breath. "It hurt," Gilmore said after the match. "I mean it really hurt. I was going to finish though. There were a lot of people there though. I was going to get through it. I love wrestling against Cole. It is a challenge that I work for."

8:48 p.m.: Lampman gets a takedown and the floor in the Shenendehowa gymnasium sounds like the tarmac. The points end the match and give Lampman a 5-1 win.

8:53 p.m.: Gilmore is sitting on the Columbia bench with his hands on his head. There is a bag of ice resting on his right ankle.

9:24 p.m.: The match ends with three-straight forfeits. The Plainsmen stay undefeated in the Suburban Council with a 50-24 win in the season finale.

9:32 p.m.: "I am going to get some ice. Time is going to tell," Gilmore says. "This is the time of year where everything hurts, so an ankle is no big deal. I think I might go to bed early tonight, probably about 10:30." The end of a 19-hour day.

9:40 p.m.: "I am going to see my girlfriend — hopefully she isn't too mad that it is late — get some homework done and go to bed," Fusco said, "at about 10:15." The end of an 18-hour day.

This weekend, Fusco and Gilmore are in the Section II tournament. Those days are going to be even longer.